► Tell us about you and your podcast
Podcast hosted by seasoned IT executives Naveen Samala & Sudhakar Nagandla from Hyderabad, India. As part of the TGV series, in every episode, the hosts interact with CXOs, Industry experts, Academicians, or Coaches across the globe to share insights that will help professional students (from Technology, Engineering & Management), IT professionals & entrepreneurs in taking guided direction on their career path.
Transformation Tuesdays for Self-help, personality development, and soft skills. Tech Thursdays for Technology related, Industry, and entrepreneurship content. And surprise bonus episodes to commemorate special occasions. Enjoy the podcast and share with those who you care about!
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
I used to listen to a lot of podcasts myself during my office commute. What first time managers do, Andy Stanley, Marketing Gurus etc. are a few podcasts that I listen regularly.
Sudhakar & I(Naveen) have been doing a lot of career guidance sessions and delivered key note sessions at Engineering & B schools. When the pandemic kicked in, I happened to attend a course on starting a podcast, I was really thrilled to start my own within 1 month of attending the course. Teamed up with Sudhakar as our ideas match. Launched first episode on May 17th 2020. It took 25 hours of effort in total to release very first episode. When I look back the experience seems very funny.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
We release two episodes per week (Transformation Tuesdays - related to soft skills, personality development and self help) and (Technical Thursdays - Information Technology & Entrepreneurship related episodes). On average I spend 9-10 hours for releasing each episode right from the first interaction with the guest till the time episode links are published on various social media platforms. We utilize all weekends, holidays and post office hours. It is a Self funded podcast.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
So far, we have promoted one product for 6 episodes and earned 300 USD. We had ~1500 downloads per month when our first sponsor approached us. Current downloads crossed 3000 per month only on podcast platforms(We publish the episode on YouTube too).
Actively looking for sponsors, yet to explore options. Would love to hear any tips.
Podcasting is helping me learn new things, every conversation is different, every speaker is unique and they bring diverse perspectives to the table. I am personally getting better and efficient episode after episode. Network has doubled in last 15 months with valuable connections.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
Zencastr, Zoom & Skype are primary tools for recording. Audacity for editing the podcast and Auphonic.com for final touchups.
Mostly through LinkedIn and YouTube. These days CoffeeMug.ai (another networking platform). Once you invite someone and give them a fantastic experience, you will get many references. I found a few guests on podchaser.com, poddit etc.
Out of 140+ episodes we did only 1 in person interview, rest all are through Zoom/Zencastr/Skype.
► How do you market your show?
64.2% Google Chrome, 19.7% Podbean, 6.1% Gaana and 1.6% Apple Podcasts.
LinkedIn and Facebook are effective for promoting. It also depends on the network of guests at times, guests influence the downloads.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
I realized that huge efforts needed for consistently launching episodes and finding right guests is not easy. But once you build a brand, people will come to you :)
We have a podcast mastery group to learn things from each other through best practice sharing.
► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?
Website: http://www.theguidingvoice.net
Podcast platform: http://theguidingvoice.podbean.com
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOTdniz-XB0XRWaBz5-yrqA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theguidingvoice/?viewAsMember=true
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GuidingVoice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theguidingvoice4u/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGuidingVoice4u
Email: theguidingvoice4u@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +91 94 94 587 187